Clouded Leopard

This article on the Clouded leopard emphasises conservation, the most important topic for all wildcats. The photographs – except of the Savannah cat - are published under a creative commons license (see base of page for details). If you'd like to share knowledge please use this form - thanks.

Name

First things first, where does the name come from? As you might know; the cloud-like markings on the body of the cat are the origins of the name. The scientific name is: Neofelis nebulosa.

Species

There are in fact two species. The other species Neofelis diardi is found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo while this species, N. nebulosa, occupies mainland Southeast Asia. The name of N. diardi is "Sunda Clouded Leopard". Other names for the species found on Borneo and Sumatra are:

• Enkuli Clouded Leopard
• Sunda Islands Clouded Leopard
• Sundaland Clouded Leopard

Description

The number of articles about this wildcat and the number of photographs of it are a reflection of how popular this cat is because of its stunning appearance. This really is, possibly, the best looking wildcat, which is why its survival in the wild is endangered

This is not a big cat in the same category as the lions and tigers, the classic big cats. The Clouded Leopard is a lot smaller. The best way to show the size is in scale with a person (please see the picture below left).

Described as medium sized; I'd tend to say medium-small as this cat is 2-3.5 feet long and weighs between 25-50 lbs (up to 23 kgs).

In fact it is midway between the small cats such as the Kodkod and Asian Golden Cat, for instance, and the big cats such as the tiger.

Compare this with the biggest big cat, the man made hybrid, the Liger at 900 lbs or one of the the biggest domestic cats, a wild cat hybrid the Savannah at 25 lbs. This wild cat is not that much bigger than some of the biggest Savannahs, which can be seen above with children. This picture was taken by Kathrin Stucki of A1 Savannahs and is her copyright. (see largest domestic cat breed for size comparisons between domestic cat breeds and domestic to wild cat breeds).

Although relatively small, the Clouded Leopard is decidedly more muscular than the domestic Savannah, which is the classic difference between domestic and wild cats. The Scottish Wildcat is about the same size as an average domestic cat but once again stronger.

Two particular characteristics of this leopard stand out for me, her very long tail and long canine teeth (at 2" the longest apparently of all cats - the extinct Saber Tooth tiger had 7" canine teeth). The Clouded Leopard tail is long for a reason; to provide balance whilst climbing trees to hunt prey, which are themselves fantastic climbers such as Gibbons and Macaques. Other prey are a wide range of animals including, small deer, cattle, birds, fish, chicken and squirrels. The tail (as the picture to the right shows) is about the same length as the body. The large paws (see large picture) also help with climbing. It seems that this cat spends a lot of time living in trees and is one of the best climbers amongst cats. It would also seem that a lot of what we know about this cat comes from observation of captive cats. A domestic cat that runs down trees head first (as does this leopard) and is also a great climber is the Norwegian Forest cat. I lived with one and she'd run down the tree trunk head first, vertically, from 30 feet up.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ (Red List) Assessment

This wild cat is classified as Vulnerable. The term "vulnerable" means that the Clouded Leopard faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. IUCN criteria sets out to evaluate the risk of extinction of species. As a result of the vulnerability of this animal, trade in body parts is banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This does not actually stop the trade. It is more a declaration of intent. Enforcement of the ban on hunting and trade is poor.

This cat is highly arboreal. The cat is built to live in the trees. The reasons for this classification are:

• deforestation at the fastest rate in the world – 10% in last 10 years
• prolific level of hunting in China to extinction perhaps
• the ever present body parts trade – skin and bones
• population declining
• population at less than 10,000 worldwide

Photo above by Mickey Bohnacker, Presse-Fotograf, Frankfurt/Main. Published under Wikimedia commons license. It is released into the public domain in fact.

Above - an example of animal body parts for sale – by erik.w.davis (new window)

Range, Habitat and Ecology

This Clouded leopard occupies these countries:

• Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Taiwan (extinct), Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma)
• Singapore (extinct)
• Southern China (extinct?)
• Eastern Himalayas (Nepal, Bhutan)
• Northeast India and Bangladesh
• Brunei Darussalam
• Cambodia
• Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sumatera)
• Lao People's Democratic Republic
• Thailand

Above - range of Clouded Leopard published under a Wikipedia license. The map above gives the impression that the range is unbroken. However, The Red List map is more accurate and shows greater fragmentation. I have prepared a map using Google My Maps that shows the range of both species of clouded leopard:

A large format verion of this map and a link to the original Google map which is an open collaboration project can be seen on this page: Clouded Leopard Range.

The picture below is Guizhou in Southern China. There appears to be a lot of deforestation, which is probably the greatest threat to the Clouded Leopards survival. The preferred habitat is subtropical and tropical forest up to 2,000 feet. The other threat is Chinese Medicine, which I am afraid is a threat to a large number of wild and endangered animals including the Bengal tiger, as an example only. It really is time the Chinese authorities created laws and regulations to exercise some control over this form of medicine, which is rooted in the past. It promotes illegal hunting of this animal.

Above - Deforestation in Bhutan	Above - Guizhou in Southern China

The Clouded leopard prefers closed, primary, tropical, evergreen forest. Although they have been found in logged forest, secondary forest and dry forest. They have also been found to inhabit areas as high as 3,000 meters in the Himalayas and in grassland and mangrove swamps.

Picture above - Indonesia tropical forest. Photo by Temboo (new window). Prey consists of:

• animals that live in trees (arboreal prey) as well as animals on the ground, which means:-
• hog deer
• slow loris (see picture below)
• bush-tailed porcupine
• Malayan pangolin
• Indochinese ground squirrel
• muntjac
• argus pheasant

Clouded leopards are crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) and nocturnal. Photo above - author: wallyg (new window)

In Captivity

One person who has had absolutely first hand experience of this cat at close range, albeit in a captive environment is Robert Baudy who ran, managed or at least worked at what I believe to be conservation center called the Savage Kingdom. What he describes in respect of the climbing skills is astonishing but it would seem to be predictable. The Clouded leopard is built to climb. It is clearly part of the cat's makeup and psyche.

On one occasion he recounts the time when one of his Clouded leopards climbed to the top of a 100 foot oak tree in rapid time (in less than a second, he says). When they went to get the cat down safely, this large male simply jumped off and like a flying squirrel glided to the ground, legs outstretched for wind resistance. Once the cat had landed he jumped up and climbed another tree. Robert Baudy makes the important point that in captivity the clouded leopard needs the correct environment, as for example, this cat prefers to consume prey up a tree. It seems that they need to access height. This as we know is a common feature too of the domestic cat but an essential requirement for this species.

They also have, he says a wide vocabulary using up to 40 different sounds including mimicking other animals such as monkey calls and birds. When he first imported this cat into the USA in the 1960s and 70s the clouded leopard was an extremely rare and valuable cat (in respect of purchase for zoos, the price was about $2,500 at that time). This cat must be rarer in the wild now and calls into question, surely, the IUCN Red List designation of vulnerable.

Clouded leopards in captivity are hard to breed. There is a tendency for the male to kill the female; hardly conducive to good sexual relations. There would also seem to be issues with maintaining a wide enough gene pool to ensure the health of the captive population and avoid inbreeding depression. What about domestication? In America the Serval, another wild cat is sometimes domesticated. The Clouded leopard could be domesticated as her size makes it practical. I couldn't find specific information but domestication except as mentioned below. It must be happening.

Sunda Clouded Leopard

This can also be called the Bornean Clouded leopard and as mentioned above is a separate species. They have been photographed in Borneo's Sebangua National Park, where they have not been seen before. This cat species has apparently 40 differences to the Asian species and was classified separately in 2007. The Sebangau Felid Project team have made it a top priority to protect this particular cat species and to protect the other Bornean wildcats the leopard cat, marbled cat and flat headed cat. They estimated that there are 10,000 clouded leopards in the wild. Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit is part of the Sebangau Felid Project.

These photographs are by Mehgan Murphy, Smithsonian’s National Zoo.  The cub above is one of two born to.Jao Chu (below) and the cubs’ father, two-and-a-half year-old “Hannibal”. They were born in Thailand in a collaborative research program with the Zoological Park Organization of Thailand.

The photographs are published under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs creative commons License  -- this site is for charitable purposes in funding cat rescue.

Threats and Conservation

Threats:

• deforestation at an alarming rate
• hunting, poaching for: skins, bones for medicines, meat for exotic food, live animals for pets.

Conservation:

• Listed in CITES Appendix I
• Protected by national legislation over nearly all of its range
• Hunting is banned in Myanmar, Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Viet Nam
• Hunting regulations in Lao PDR
• Protected areas.

Sorry to go on but, as mentioned, a major threat is Chinese Medicine, which I am afraid is a threat to a large number of wild and endangered animals including the Bengal tiger, as an example only. Another is the White Siberian tiger. It really is time the Chinese authorities created laws and regulations to exercise some control over this form of medicine, which is rooted in the past.

Videos:

Go to an early post on the clouded leopard which shows some more photos

Sources:

• Wikipedia
• IUCN Red List
• The Clouded Leopard Project
• Pictures of Cats.org
• Flickr
• YouTube

Photos of Clouded leopard and landscape are Published under Wikimedia® creative commons license license = Attribution-ShareAlike License

Map of range and skin - Wikipedia® Click on this link to see the Wikipedia® License src: Wikipedia® published under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version, November 2002 Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA - - no other conditions to the license are added.